Essay for Central Bank of Ceylon
with date 1976-08-27

Appears to be a Proposed series of Flora and Fauna notes designed before issue the 1979 Flora and Fauna series, which included the Rs20 note for the first time.

Denomination : 5 Rupees Base Color : Red Under-print : Pink, Blue & Yellow English : Five Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් පහයි Thamil : ஐந்து ரூபாய் Size :  127x 67 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 217 Front Pictorial :  Cattleya Orchids on right Back Pictorial  :  Kingfisher bird facing forward right, on bottom border left of center.
Denomination : 10 Rupees Base Color : Green Under-print : Pink Purple & Yellow English : Ten Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් දහයයි Thamil : பத்து ரூபாய் Size :  127x 67 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 218 Front Pictorial :  Honeysuckle Flowers to left Back Pictorial  :  Spotted Deer seated to left with head pointing forward right on bottom border left of center.
Denomination : 20 Rupees Base Color : Blue Under-print : Pink & Yellow English : Twenty Rupees Sinhala : රුපියල් විස්සයි Thamil : இருபது ரூபாய் Size : 137 x 70 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 219 Front Pictorial :  Daisy flowers on right Back Pictorial :  Leopard seated to left with head pointing forward left on bottom border left of center.
Denomination : 100 Rupees Base Color : Green Under-print : Pink & Blue English : One Hundred Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් සියයයි Thamil : நூறு ரூபாய் Size : 156 x 76 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 220 Front Pictorial :  Lily flowers on right. Back Pictorial :  Elephant seated to left with head pointing forward left, on bottom border left of center.

Front: Front Pictorial of Flowers of Sri Lanka.
At top ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, with இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON below in English above ශ්‍රී ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක් ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය in three lines. The Numeric date 1976-08-27 with leading zero below two dummy Facsimile English Signature signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, on and signature of Herbert Tennekoon in Sinhala above මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති below. Value in Sinhala රුපියල් Thamil ரூபாய் and English RUPEES One Serial No., two on the Rs100.
Back: Back Pictorial of Birds and Animals of Sri Lanka.
On top ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English below. Value in Sinhala රුපියල් Thamil ரூபாய் and English RUPEES No printers name at bottom margin in small script
Most Probably Thomas Se La Rue as the legality statement on the lower denomination does not have the added ශ්‍රී in country name like in their proposed 1978-2-4 notes which have their name printed on it. De La Rue had not printed notes for CBC after Republican constitution when it was added.

Crude Sinhala text hardly legible on Rs5.

The Rs2 and Rs50 of this Series were not listed in either Spink Auctions 13034 or 18050 and may have sold on private sale.

The notes at 230, 216, 213, and 175 dpi are displayed at about 50 dpi if assuming height of 1979 notes.
If you have images any of missing Rs2 and Rs50 essays or images of higher resolution please contribute to kavanr @ gmail.com

From 2013 December 5th, Spink Auction lots 217-220 sold for a grand total of £11900+44%BP+V.
Listed again 2018 October 3rd Spink Auction in PCGS Currency holders, as part of Ibrahim Salem collection of World banknotes lots 115-118 with total estimate £6600-£8300 and remained unsold.

The Serial Numbers and Signatures printed on transparencies have been pasted on the essay as seen by brownish highlight on the front images. Sold in 2013 and Unsold in 2018 in a PCGS slab with a Serial number on the upper left like the others in this set of essays. It appeared in 2024 in PMG slab with a stain in place of the Serial Number. Click on Rs5 front image to see image of essay with lost Serial obtained from eBay Auction listing.

The Upper right Serial on the Rs20 appear to have got lost leaving a brown stains visible in locations.

In IBNS WhatsApp group
Jaime said Those are indeed pasted and with not always the best glue, so that many detach and are lost over time
Andrew said About 50% of the essays out there have missing bits, or bits that have fallen off, or bits that were never completed to begin with.
Colin said Sometimes glue remanants could be from a piece that fell off, or sometimes it could just be stray glue. It is also quite possible that a piece can fall off without leaving any residual trace of glue, or a certain design element was never added to that particular model in the first place.